Towing fin for vessels



Jan. 26, 1937. A. c. LEIGH TOWING FIN FOR VESSELS Filed March 21, 1936 w M & .TM L1 P. mm: m? 2 W.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY a Al red .C. Leiqh.

Patented Jan. 26, 1937 UNITED STATES TOWING FIN FOR VESSELS Alfred C. Leigh, Birmingham, Ala., assignor to Ingalls Iron Works Company, a corporation of Delaware Application March '21, 1936, Serial No. 70,103

8 Claims. -(c1.114-14o) My invention relates to improvements in barges and like vessels adapted to be towed.

Heretofore, it has been proposed to resist the tendency of barges, or other towed vessels, to yaw by the use 'of towing fins in the form of vertical plates set under the stern in line with, or

near and parallel to, the center line keel of the boat. In some cases such fins have carried side projections that are offset equi-distantly on each side of the fin and offer a balanced drag thereon so long as it is disposed in the line of tow but which will cause each fin to offer. an increased drag on the side towards which the boat yaws and a decreasing drag on the other side.

According to my invention I place the towing fins as near to the sides of the boat as is practicable and set them not parallel with the center line keel but at divergent angles so that each finhas only one efiective working side, i. e., that facing outwardly towards the adjacent side of the boat. This has quite a different effect from the previous towing fins in that as the stern tends to y w to one side the fin in that stem quarter increases the angle of its working face to the line of tow and resists with increasing force the tendency to yaw further ,in that direction while at the same time the fin in the opposite stern quarter reduces its angle to the line of tow and lowers its drag force, thereby assisting the action of the other fin to keep the boat in line. Further, these forces are applied at points in the stern having the maximum possible lateral displacement from the center line of the boat which lies in the line of draft applied at the bow thus rendering the forces set up by the fins of maximum efliciency for the contemplated duty.

My invention further contemplates converting the towing fins into tanks or reservoirs having the tank side forming the working fin face deformed to produce stiffening projections which are integral with the side and shaped to effectively brace the fin and increase its storage capacity. My invention further contemplates providing towing fins adapted to provide separate storage tanks for fuel oil, lubricating oil, water on liquid cargo, each with suitable pipe connections and all adapted to stiifen and reinforce the barge without unduly increasing its drag and to increase its available cargo and machinery space by replacing the present tanks in the barge.

My invention further contemplates constructing each fin so as to form multiple compartments therein which can be done economically by the welding of one or more flanged plates, conforming to the vertical cross section of the fin, to the inner or non-working wall of the fin so as thus to produce any required number of separate reservoirs or tanks each having the desired ca- 5 pacity.

My invention further comprises the novel details of construction and arrangements of parts, which are hereinafter more particularly described and claimed by reference to the accompanying drawing; which illustrates the preferable em- 5 bodiment of my invention, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the stern end of a barge or like boat equipped with my improved type of fin;

Fig. 2 is a rear end elevation ofFig. 1; 10

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of Fig. 1 showing the bow end of the barge with its tow rope and bridle; and

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are respectively cross sectional views taken on the lines IV--IV, V-V and 16 VI-VI of Fig. 1

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughoutthe drawing.

In the embodiment of my invention shown, I

have conventionally illustrated a barge or other 20 towed vessel l0 having under its stern I I in each quarter a hollow multiple compartment towing fin generally designated by the numeral l2, which fins, as seen more clearly in Fig. 3, are set close to the'sides of the boat at angles that diverge 25 outwardly from the center line toward the stern of the boat.

Each fin has its working side formed preferably by what I term an outer plate l3 which is a unitary sheet of metal standing vertically and 30 so cut and shaped that it maybe deformed to provide the successively'larger stiffening projections l4, l5 and it. These, as seen more clearly in Fig. 1, all have the form of an inverted half pyramid with the plane of the plate cuttingthe 35 base on a diagonal axial plane throughlopposite corner edges. The plate is so shaped that, when deformed to produce these projections, its bottom edge i! will lie straight and horizontal and form substantially a continuation of the bottom I8 of 40 the boat, its straight aft edge l9 will stand vertical, and its irregular upper edge, indicated at 20, will be inclined throughout to the pitch of the stern bottom plating 2| to which it is adapted to be welded. 45

As will be seen better by reference'to the cross sectional views in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the fin is given the form of a reservoir or tank by attaching a flanged inner side plate 22 to the free margina edges of its outer side plate l3. If only one storage chamber is desired, only the plate 22 is used which is formed with a continuous marginal flange 24 about its aft and bottom edges, and the edge of this flange is fitted against 55 and conforms to the free edges of the opposed fin plate l3 and is welded thereto along their meeting edges as the preferred means of joining the plates with a water-tight joint. plate 22 along its upper edge conforms with and-is m ing to 22 and bearing similar flanges 24, can be applied by welding to the edges of plate 22, thus providing an auxiliary reservoir 21 which may likewise have its pipe connections 25 and 26 to the barge. These plates I3, 22 and 23 forming each fin into one or more tanks or reservoirs will not increase appreciably the drag of the fin which is largely determined by the extent of the lateral pitch of its working face l3.

Inasmuch as the fins are provided with projections only on their outer side or working faces,

the finished fin presents but little more drag or vidual towing fin on the side toward which the stern tends to yaw becomes more effective in its control of the boat and as it increases its resistance, the towing fin under the opposite quar- J ter shifts its working face toward the line of-tow and correspondingly reduces its drag. The two fins thus operate to bring about a more positive and quickly established rectification of the position of the stern to bring it into the line of tow.

The nearer the working face of a fin is set toward the adjacent side of the boat stem, the more effective it will be to maintain and restore the barge to the line of tow.

In Fig. 3 I show the bow 30 of the barge with a typical bridle 3| attached to the towing bits or nigger-heads 32 and to the hawser line 33. The resultant pull on the barge is applied in line with the center keel line of the boat and the extent of the laterial displacement of the fins from such line increases proportionately their yawresisting efliciency.

In practice, the conversion. of the fins into reservoirs or tanks can have many marked advantages such as the provision, at small expense and without encroachment ofcargo or machinery space, of tanks suitable for the storage of fuel oil, lubricating oil, water or even bulk fluid cargo; the enabling of the stern of the boat to be properly ballasted against an overload at the bow; and with each flanged plate 22 or 23 that is welded on at nominal expense I provide an additional tank, the walls of which tend to stiffen and protect the bottom of the boat without unduly increasing its towing resistance which is substantially the same regardless of the width of the fin because the latter forms an unbroken continuation of the bottom plate and thus its obstructive effect is substantially confined to the divergence of its one working face.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications, without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A vessel adapted to be towed having bottom plating and laterally divergent towing fins attached substantially symmetrically with respect to the center line of the vessel to said plating under the vessel's stern quarters, said fins having external projections which are disposed to produce a drag and which are confined to the relatively divergent lateral fin sides that face outwardly.

2. A vessel according to claim 1, in which each towing fin is hollow to form an auxiliary external tank and provided with a pipe connection into the vessel.

3. A vessel adapted to be towed according to claim 1, in which the fins are hollow to form auxiliary external storage tanks, each having a pipe connection into the vessel: and the external projections being also hollow and in communication with the interior of the respective fins to increase the storage capacity of each fin.

4. A vessel adapted to be towed having a rake bottom, and fins attached under its after quarters symmetrically with respect to the center line of said vessel, said fins each having an upright lateral outwardly facing working face, which faces relatively diverge towards the after end of the vessel and terminate each close to the respectively adjacent side of the vessel.

5. A vessel adapted to be towed having bottom plating, symmetrically disposed hollow towing fins, each fin comprising a vertical outwardly divergent outer working side plate and an inner plain non-working side plate connected together in spaced relation and to the bottom plating to form storage reservoirs, said outer side plate being deformed to provide outwardly extending drag producing and reinforcing projections, said projections being in communication with the storage reservoir of the respective fin and pipe connections from the vessel to said reservoirs.

6. A vessel according to claim 5, in which each hollow fin is provided with an inside plate forming a partition subdividing it into a plurality of separate storage reservoirs, and means to establish the communication between each of said reservoirs and the vessel whereby the latter is provided with a plurality of exterior storage reservoirs.

7. A towing fin for barges and vessels adapted to be towed, comprising spaced inner and outer substantially parallelv side plates marginally connected to form a storage reservoir, one side plate which constitutes the working face of the fin having integral vertically disposed outwardly extending drag inducing reinforcing projections that increase upwardly in size, the other or nonworking side face of each fin comprising a flat vertical plate marginally flanged and secured to the outer working side plate of its respective fin.

8. A towing fin according to claim 7, having an inner flanged plate secured in place between the working and non-working side plates of the fin to form in each fin a plurality of separate liquid storage compartments.

ALFRED C. LEIGH. 

